Blue and White mulls bill to disperse Knesset on Monday
Gantz: Budget feud can still be resolved
Blue and White is considering bringing its own bill on Monday to disperse the Knesset and initiate elections. The move would be initiated in order to preempt a Knesset dispersal bill sponsored by Yesh Atid- Telem that opposition leader Yair Lapid intends to bring to a vote on Wednesday, sources in the party told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday.
The sources said all options are on the table for Blue and White, and it is important to party leader Benny Gantz to lead and not be dragged by Lapid. The options also include passing controversial legislation the Likud opposes that could prevent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from forming the next government, promote equality and enable gay men to adopt children.
Likud officials said Knesset Speaker Yariv Levin could block such legislation so it has no chance of passing into law. The Knesset will be dispersed automatically on December 23 if a state budget is not passed by then, and Netanyahu would remain prime minister in a caretaker government.
Following a day of mutual recriminations between Netanyahu and Gantz in the Knesset on Monday, the latter reached out to the former in interviews broadcast Tuesday night on channels 12 and 13.
“Israel doesn’t need to go to elections,” Gantz said. “Israel needs a functioning government.”
The alternate prime minister said the budget dispute between Likud and Blue and White can still be resolved.
But he added that if the Knesset ends up being dispersed because Netanyahu is unwilling to compromise, his Blue and White Party would not join a Netanyahu- led government after the election.
The Likud responded to Gantz by saying it was inappropriate that the defense
minister gave political interviews on a day that two soldiers were killed in a plane crash.
Two contradictory polls were broadcast on Tuesday night on KAN TV and Channel 13. The KAN poll found that Likud had a solid lead over Naftali Bennett’s Yamina Party of 31 to 21 seats. The poll gave Yesh AtidTelem 17 seats, the Joint List 11, Blue and White, Shas and Yisrael Beytenu nine each, United Torah Judaism seven and Meretz six.
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PASS THE BUDGET
The government in 2017 agreed to create a domestic violence prevention program with a budget of NIS 250 million. It is now